Steph's adventures: Montalcino

I’m sitting in the kitchen/dining area of Casa Degli Orsi, our apartment which is home for 4 nights in Montalcino. The apartment itself is split level, 2/3 bedrooms and is on the 2^nd floor through a non-descript narrow doorway in one of the streets in the middle of the medieval town that dates back to the 14^th century.

On our main floor, we have a kitchen area running along one wall, with a wonderful orangey coloured painted wall and a drawing/painting of some lilies above the oven area. There are an eclectic mix of items hung on all the walls – old style paintings, hunting horn, axe, plates and bowls, gourds and what looks like items of body armour, in case we all decide to go jousting perhaps. We had a grandfather clock, lounges, book shelves dug into the thick walls (books, collection of wine glasses and a few bottles of wine, teapot & set and a small collection of very old cameras), chest of drawers (haven’t had a peek inside yet), table seating 6. Off this area leads two bedrooms, either side of the kitchen wall. Bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and an eclectic mix of wall art, painted walls and old lounges & chairs. Val’s domain is the upstairs mezzanine level reached from the spiral staircase.

It’s Sunday morning and the others are in the stages of getting up. There is no mist over the valley this morning – yes, I did sneak out for a look on the balcony that both bedrooms share (large enough for a party later).

So back to yesterday. We pack so much into a day, and by the time we get into bed at night, it’s hard to remember back as far as that morning, which seems ages ago. So yesterday morning at breakfast in Lucca in our B&B, the lady owner kept shushing us – she didn’t want us to talk because some of the other guests may want to sleep in. Betty, this reminded me of our Gestapo B&B owner down in Devon who kept telling us to be quiet ‘as there are guests downstairs’ and in the morning, we discovered he’d kept telling them to be quiet ‘as there are guests upstairs’. He was odd on several levels, and for some reason this woman reminded me of him. We were all in the breakfast area, just talking amongst ourselves. When she came to ask what coffee we’d like, and whether panini or trumpet/drumstick (croissants) she was almost whispering herself. Then the other guests joined us, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Memorable.

So after a hushed breakfast, we all made our way to the van as Val was waiting near the tourist office part of the wall. In Lucca, you need a permit to drive any vehicle in the old town, which obviously (and thankfully) keeps the vehicle traffic to a minimum. There isn’t much space anyway, and you’re more likely to be almost run over by someone on a pushbike or a Vespa.

Our first stop was Lari, a small hilltop village and home to Martelli family and their pasta business. They make 4 shapes of pasta, export all over the world and can’t keep up with demand. But before we were shown around their factory, we had to park the van. And this is after visiting what we dubbed “all 3 Lari’s”. Fiona is our GPS and there are times when she must be reading different maps, as all GPS owners know.

I have to admit that now it's Tuesday evening, and we have finally found somewhere in Montalcino with working internet access. We've also done heaps more ....

After parking our van back in Lari, one of the Maretlli family members gave us a full guided tour of the pasta process and the family asked us to stay for luch. So we accepted. So we had the most amazing experience being in their home while it was cooked, and then joining the family for such a delicious lunch. Thankfully my appetite had returned. The food was just something else, and days later I can still taste it - it was soooooooo good. We spent longer there than we had planned and left reluctantly but of course there were things to see and do and places to go.

We're based at Montalcino. We've had day trips around the countryside on what we've dubbed the "tree hunt" (trying to get photographs of lines of cyprus trees that Tuscany is famous for), we've been to a couple of 'churches' that date back to the 12th century to hear the mass being chanted, we've had a whole day in Siena and late this afternoon we visited one of the many local wineries and had a bit of a look around there. We've even had time to wander around Montalcino!

So we're not doing too bad. Tonight after this internet time we're all heading out for a pizza - last night we had another "home cooked meal" with Domenico and Lina, his wife, who own the apartment we're staying in. It was "only 4 courses" so a light meal by Italian standards!!! Yes, I took photos of each of the courses as the presentation was in itself a work of art. And the taste ... almost as perfect as the Martelli family lunch, so we were spoilt again. At the end of the meal, we found out that the drinking set (water jar and glasses) were Lina's family ones and they dated back to 1870! Leonie said she was glad we didn't know at the beginning of the meal.

Anyway, I'll make this a short entry and will add some photos. Hopefully we'll have internet access at Chianti so I can add more later ...

For those of you who are living it up in an office, I hope you enjoy reading this and apologies that you've spent a few days in the office without updates!!!

This is one of the streets in Lucca - two way traffic, no footpaths as pedestrians share the streets with cars, bikes, Vespas, motorbikes, other pedestrians and their dogs ...

One result from our "tree hunt"

Lisa - take note!!! This is the view from our apartment's balcony here in Montalcino. Yes, we have had our 'party' on it and I did think of you. Next year eh? Actually, this isn't THE view, it's just a small part of the panoramic view ...